POETRY
      Derek Motion — 'politic 101.9 fm'

you’re looking ashamed on the inside too now
the backward thinking & assessing so obvious

true, at first it was only an impulse & quite rational:
howard backs down on legislation, members cross

the floor as if to prove their bipedal nature… you could
be forgiven for jumping to such a state of hope / joy.

‘change of government’ an obscure professor utters
he’s got the sly charm of an on course bookie & you flutter

no-one foreseeing how close this sentiment brings you
to happily donating money. banners in your mind already

read: ‘australia decides’ & on the cusp of a marginal election
you will show your stance in the form of leaflets (imagine

a rainy street desolate & half-lit) your personal philosophy
now so addled & lonely it begins not to matter how the votes

tally up (a forlorn living room seethes the air of abc
the colours dankly true to the retro orange lampshade) you

watch & you are – in stages marked by the clock – tired,
expectant, jocular, then oblivious. it is a cycle you get used to.